Revenge Unleashed Page 3

  There was just too much going on in his mind to finish what he’d started.

  With another groan, he whipped off the faucets and reached for a thick terry-cloth towel to wrap around his waist.

  Slowly, his cock was lowering its salute but the yearning to release was still as strong as ever.

  Looks like Remy and I are going out tonight, whether he wants to or not.

  Dripping over the pristine floors, he moved back into his bedroom, his black hair falling over his forehead in damp tendrils while he dug through his dresser for socks and underwear.

  No sooner had he slipped into a pair of boxers, running the towel through his outgrown crew cut did the landline ring.

  Luke didn’t need to read the call display to know it was his sister. There were only a handful of people who knew the number and while the phone was the bane of Luke’s existence, he knew that when he withdrew from the world, Remy and Rachel both used it to ensure he was alive.

  I keep this damned number for someone else’s peace of mind, he thought, snatching up the phone at the same time as Soledad.

  “…in the shower,” the maid was saying.

  “I got it, Sol,” Luke interrupted.

  “Oh, sorry. Bye Rachel.”

  “Bye, Sol.”

  His sister’s voice sounded shadowed and Luke had a bad feeling that she had already heard the news.

  “Hey Rach.”

  “Did you hear?” she sighed.

  “Yeah,” Luke replied. There was no use lying to her, even if he hadn’t sworn to always be honest with her years ago.

  “Why didn’t you call me?” Rachel demanded, but there was no anger in her voice. She knew exactly why he hadn’t.

  “Rach…”

  “Are you going to the funeral?”

  He snorted.

  “No.”

  There was a long silence and Luke just barely stopped himself from going off on a diatribe.

  Their relationship was different. She still saw him as a father, no matter how much animosity she felt toward him. That ship sailed with me a long time ago.

  The doorbell echoed through the condo and Luke glanced at the alarm clock by his bed in surprise.

  He moved to dress, realizing he still stood in his underwear, pacing the floor.

  “I need to go,” Rachel told him quietly. “I-I hope you understand.”

  He paused, his brow furrowing.

  “Rach, you do what you’ve gotta do, but if you want me to come, the answer is a hard no.”

  There was a knock at his bedroom door.

  “Hang on a second,” he told his sister, shimmying into a pair of worn Levi’s. Soledad stood in the hallway, her eyes raking over his naked chest quickly before she could catch herself.

  “There’s a woman here for you,” the maid intoned. “Should I send her away?”

  “Who is it?” Luke asked.

  “She says her name is Meredith.”

  Luke stared blankly at the housekeeper, but Soledad gave no indication that she recognized the woman.

  “Who is she?” Luke snapped, his patience expiring.

  “No idea, but she looks like someone you’d know,” Sol offered. “Blonde, big…breasts…”

  Soledad held her hands out over her chest and Luke felt his face flush. On the phone, he heard his sister laugh shortly.

  “I’ll call you back,” Rachel told him.

  “No,” Luke said, striding into the hall, the cordless pressed to his ear. “I’m not expecting anyone.”

  “Still, I can—”

  “Just give me a minute, Rach.”

  He stalked toward the entranceway and as he rounded the corner to the foyer, he froze in place.

  Her honey-blonde hair was cut stylishly with streaks of white chunked through the waves and as she stood in a tailored suit-dress of deep burgundy, the color flattering her peaches and cream complexion, Luke came to a stop.

  The erection that he had lost in the shower suddenly returned with a vengeance when she pivoted, her blazing green eyes boring into him unflinchingly.

  “Mr. Vaughan?” she asked. Her voice was even, measured and husky, like she had years of fine grooming on her resume.

  “Rach, I have to call you back,” Luke intoned.

  “Right,” Rachel sighed, the phone clicking in his ear before he could respond, but the heady feeling of awareness rising through him stomped the feeling of regret he had for cutting his sister short.

  “I’m Luke Vaughan. You are?” he asked, dropping the phone onto the sofa table, which sat beneath an ornate metal mirror.

  She looked behind him at Soledad who lingered conspicuously.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I told your friend. I’m Meredith Ruiz-Maddox.”

  The name slapped him fully in the face and Luke scowled at her, his eyes flashing with annoyance.

  “I already told your husband, Ms. Maddox, I have no interest in anything you have to say.”

  He spun and glowered at Soledad.

  “See her out of here,” he growled, moving out of the foyer.

  “Wait! Please!” she called out, a plaintive note to her tone and the plea sent another rush of blood through his gut and into his crotch.

  He couldn’t shake the idea of seeing this well-coifed woman on all fours uttering those same two words to him just before he took her.

  Slowly, he turned back around and eyed her, gritting his teeth. He felt oddly exposed standing there, like she could read his desire clearly on his face. He locked down any emotion that might give him away. He would not let this woman sway him.

  “Just give me five minutes of your time,” she said simply, stepping toward him, a finely-shaped calf stepping evenly across the wooden floor of the foyer. “If you don’t like what I have to say, you can send me on my way and I promise that I won’t bother you again.”

  “You’ll just send someone else from your firm to bother me?” Luke retorted, but his words weren’t nearly as scathing as he wanted them to be.

  “No one will bother you,” she swore. “Not me, not my father or mother. I swear.”

  His eyes narrowed.

  “That blowhard who came to see me yesterday was your father? David Maddox?”

  She laughed before nodding, flashing a dazzling row of even, white teeth.

  “He is.”

  Inexplicably, relief flooded through Luke as he realized that Meredith wasn’t married to the cocky SOB.

  His eyes trailed toward her manicured hands and noted that she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

  What the hell is wrong with you? You’re not going to bang this broad.

  Slowly, he lifted his eyes back toward her delicately lined face and nodded curtly.

  “Five minutes,” he conceded before spinning back toward the apartment. Soledad cast him a wary look.

  “See you tomorrow, Sol,” he told her and she nodded quickly.

  “Okay.”

  He sauntered into the living room and waited for the sound of Meredith’s clicking heels to catch up. As he sat on the couch, he dug his hands deep into his pockets to readjust his boner, wondering if the sexy attorney had seen his raging hard-on as they stood in the entranceway.

  As she joined him in the room, pausing to look around impartially, Luke saw her eyes casually fall over his crotch and he realized that she had.

  Maybe this will take a little longer than five minutes, he thought, licking his lips.

  Chapter 3

  Some people just did not look good in pictures. Others simply looked better in person. Luke was neither one of those types and it took every fiber of self-control for Meredith to keep it together as she stared at him.

  She had read through his file carefully, looking at his army photos, his MMA biography and every piece of information she had found on him. But in person, she was not remotely prepared for the man before her.

  The photos had depicted a too-handsome man with a dominant, cocky air abou
t him. Dark-lashed blue eyes, high cheekbones, strong jawline against an olive skin tone. Attractive men among Detroit’s elite were a dime a dozen, but none that she had seen could compare with the startling beauty of this man.

  It had taken her far too long to find her voice when she’d first seen him, standing shirtless in the hallway.

  The sheer magnetism of him almost knocked her down, the ripple of his pecs catching her eyes as he did no more than breathe. His dark-blue eyes bored into her with such intensity, she was certain he could see clean through her, the pounding of her heart, the slick layer of moisture forming between her legs, the slight catch in her breath.

  Even as she stood in the living room, she couldn’t pull her gaze away from the tell-tale bulge in his pants, her tongue jutting out to roll along her lower lip quickly, lest he read the longing mounting inside her.

  “Are you going to stand there for your five minutes?” he asked gruffly, but Meredith could hear the amusement in his tone, despite his attempt to mask it. “You may as well get comfortable.”

  To her surprise, he patted the seat next to him.

  “Lots of room right here,” he suggested and Meredith could tell he was mocking her. She maintained a frosty smile even though her insides were melting with desire.

  “Thank you,” she replied, sliding toward him and perching on the edge of the sofa.

  “I’d offer you a drink, but you’re only going to be here for five minutes…right?”

  Meredith sighed and leaned forward to meet his eyes.

  “Please, accept my condolences for your loss,” Meredith said graciously.

  “You can cut the bullshit, Ms. Maddox. Your father already read me the cookie-cutter script.”

  Meredith shook her head regretfully.

  “I know my father is not the most…down-to-earth guy,” Meredith started. “So he probably came at you with a lot of figures and numbers which scared you off—”

  There was a discernible shift in Luke’s demeanor and he moved forward to lock her gaze with his own icy blue one.

  “Sweetheart, do I look like I scare easily?” he growled, his bemusement gone. “I served in the army for five years—in the action. I’m an MMA fighter. You might want to take a different approach if you’re trying to come at me.”

  Meredith cocked her head to the side.

  “Fear comes in many forms, Mr. Vaughan,” she replied quietly. “It doesn’t matter how physically strong one might be, everyone has their weakness. Any good comic book will tell you that.”

  His lips parted for a moment and Meredith was suddenly worried she had gone too far.

  “You graduated suma cum laude from University of Michigan. You’ve been groomed to take over the company. Isn’t that why you went to one of the best business schools in the country?” she asked placatingly.

  “You know me so well, don’t you, Ms. Maddox.” The scorn in his voice changed the sentence from a question, to a sarcastic statement. It took her aback and she just barely stopped herself from replying snidely. He was a conundrum of opposing emotions beneath a stark, composed exterior. It was no wonder that his presence couldn’t quite be captured in a photograph.

  “I didn’t come here to fight with you, Mr. Vaughan,” she told him softly.

  He scoffed and sat back, the glimmer of anger fading from his eyes.

  “Then you might want to start calling me Luke and not ‘Mr. Vaughan.’ I happen to despise that name.”

  “Luke,” she agreed.

  Understanding how he felt about his father might come in handy later.

  “Call me Meredith.”

  Begrudgingly, he nodded and Mer smiled at him.

  “Let me try this again,” she offered. “I don’t know what my father said to you to turn you off of the idea of taking over the company which your father left you, but I want to explain some of the more humane aspects of what’s at stake here.”

  “And what makes you think I give a shit?” Luke asked conversationally, finally flopping back comfortably. He folded his arms over his chest, drawing Meredith’s eyes toward his hard pecs.

  Stop it! It’s not like I can run my tongue over those right now. But if I did, would it shock him or would he just guide my head down along the ridges of—

  “That’s what I thought,” Luke snorted and Meredith realized with great humiliation that she had been gawking at him without answering.

  “You don’t give a shit about your father’s company? I mean, it was something you had all around you growing up, something—”

  “Meredith, you’re beginning to remind me of your father,” Luke barked at her. “Did you come here to say something different or—”

  “Did my father tell you what would happen if the company dissolves?”

  “Oh no! You mean I won’t get my mitts on the billions that Carter squirreled away? That sounds awful. If only I had learned some way to take care of myself without his help all these years!”

  Meredith almost smiled as she looked around the elegantly decorated living room.

  “You don’t seem to be failing, Luke but surely you can always do better. I know you live fight to fight.”

  “Lady, you really are not coming at me the right way,” Luke hissed and Meredith realized he wasn’t lying.

  I need to change tactics. I need to disarm him but how? He’s so fucking hostile all the time.

  “Forget about your money,” she said quickly. “Maybe you don’t care about that, but what about the thousands of people who are going to lose their jobs when the company gets dissolved, Luke?”

  “Not my problem. Maybe they shouldn’t have worked for such an unholy bastard.”

  Meredith scoffed.

  “Really? You think that people who need jobs are busy investigating the CEO of the company they work for? Seriously? Did you thoroughly investigate the US Army when you took a job with them because, have I got news for you—”

  “Enough!” Luke barked, his face blushing red and Meredith saw that she had struck a nerve, pointing out his callous statement.

  “Thousands of people are going to be displaced, Luke,” she told him simply. “I don’t know what the beef was with you and your father, but he’s gone now. Whatever the bad blood was about, it shouldn’t affect the employees and family members who have nothing to do with this feud.”

  Luke was quiet for a long moment, staring at her almost accusingly for several seconds.

  I’m getting through to him. I did it! Without seducing him!

  The disappointment she felt at that last part was sharp. She was growing hotter and hotter under her clothes, each glare he administered making Meredith want to feel his strong body over hers, pinning her down.

  Breathe. Focus on your breathing before you orgasm right in front of him.

  “Your five minutes are up.”

  Her breath caught in her throat and she stared at him in shock.

  “What?”

  “Your time is up,” he told her flatly, rising from his place on the sofa. He extended an arm for her to go and she gaped at him, unmoving.

  “You’re not going to consider it even?” she asked in disbelief. “You don’t care about those people?”

  He sauntered toward her and paused, towering over her to cast a shadow on her curvy frame.

  “I care about my people,” he spat. “That’s why I make efforts to take care of my people. If Carter couldn’t be bothered to take care of his own, why should I have to clean up his mess?”

  The bitterness in his tone pierced through her and regret flooded her body as she slowly stood. She couldn’t be sure if it was his nearness or the devastating blow that he had delivered but suddenly, Meredith was finding it difficult to focus.

  “I’m going to leave my card,” she mumbled, defeat sweeping through her as she reached into her Prada handbag and scrawled her cell on the back of her business card. “You can call me any time if you change your mind.”

  “I won’t,” he assured her, turning away. But b
efore he could move, she reached out to grab him, pressing the card against his palm.

  He flinched as if she had struck him and started back, dropping the card on the floor.

  “I-I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I-I was just giving you my card.”

  “You should go,” he told her flatly, stalking away quickly and leaving Meredith no choice but to follow him.

  She paused to pick up the card off the floor and leave in on the coffee table. When she caught up with him in the foyer, he was standing at the door with it open, his eyes fixed on her.

  That’s it? That can’t be it.

  But Luke didn’t say another word as Meredith walked toward him and she was inexplicably at a loss for something to say.

  “Luke—” she started to say, an apology ready to spring from her lips. She couldn’t be sure why she felt like she needed to say sorry.

  “Nice meeting you, Meredith,” he told her but he did not meet her eyes. And then the door closed.

  She stood in the hallway, feeling like she had the female equivalent of blue balls somehow.

  Chapter 4

  Remy waved at the bartender and signalled for another round, which appeared in seconds.

  “Just keep ‘em coming, Nance. My boy here is mourning a loss,” Remy chortled and Luke scowled at him.

  “I’m not mourning shit,” he countered.

  “Uh, yeah,” Remy retorted, slamming back the tequila and nodding for Luke to do the same. Grimacing, Luke followed suit, closing his eyes as the alcohol burned his gut.

  “I don’t give a fuck that Carter is dead,” Luke insisted.

  “I’m not talking about Carter. Fuck Carter. He didn’t suffer enough if you ask me,” Remy hissed, his grey eyes flashing. “Fucking aneurism. He should have died by Chinese water torture or some shit.”

  Luke cast his best friend an appreciative glance but he wondered if Remy hadn’t had too much to drink. He wasn’t making much sense.

  “Then what am I mourning?” he asked, instantly wishing he hadn’t.

  “The missed opportunity to bang that lawyer!” Remy yelled loudly enough to capture the attention of everyone in the bar. Luke cringed and lowered his head.